Biomedical Commons^™

Determination Of The Dynamic Behavior Of Subjects With Diabetic Neuropathy, Luis G. Sagarnaga Lopez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The diabetic foot is one of the most feared complications of diabetes [3]. Causes of a diabetic foot come from many disorders including diabetic neuropathy, peripheral vascular disease, charcot's neuropathy, foot ulceration, and limb amputation [4]. Statistics have revealed that 8.3 percent of population in the U.S. is affected by diabetes in 2010, i.e., 25.8 million people. About 60 percent to 70 percent of people with diabetes have mild to severe forms of nervous system damage [13]. There is an enormous impact on the physical and mental health of patients who suffer from diabetes.

This research was to determine the …

An Investigation Into Ultrasonic Communication For Near-Body Networks, Eric Joshua Escudero Jr., Gursewak Singh Rai

Electrical Engineering

The following report presents a study of body-area, free-space ultrasonic communication system. Two analog communication systems are investigated. The initial communications system setup relies upon the amplitude modulation (AM) techniques to transmit the signal. Such a system is prone to noise since the amplitude of the signal is directly affected by distance and the signal strength will deteriorate. The secondary communication system involves utilizing frequency modulation (FM). This method avoids the issue of losing information due to amplitude deterioration, but encounters delay issues. The main hardware components used in the approach outlined include ultrasonic transducers (UTs) used for both transmitting …

Rfid Techniques For Passive Electronics, Ryan Behr, David Cobos

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Heart-Rate Monitoring Control System Using Photoplethysmography (Ppg), Wesley Nguyen, Ryan Horjus

Electrical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Universal Engineering Programmer – An In-House Development Tool For Developing And Testing Implantable Medical Devices In St. Jude Medical, Khoa Tat Do

Master's Theses

During development and testing of the functionality of the pacemaker and defibrillator device, engineers in the St. Jude Medical Cardiac Rhythm Management Division use an in-house development tool called Universal Engineering Programmer (UEP) to ensure the device functions as expected, before it can be used to test on an animal or a human during the implantation process.  In addition, some applications of UEP are incorporated into the official releases of the device product.  UEP has been developed and used by engineers across departments in the St. Jude Medical Cardiac Rhythm Management Division (CRMD).  This thesis covers the flexible and reusable …

Intelligibility Of Electrolarynx Speech Using A Novel Hands-Free Actuator, Brian Madden, Mark Nolan, Ted Burke, James Condron, Eugene Coyle

Conference Papers

During voiced speech, the larynx provides quasi-periodic acoustic excitation of the vocal tract. In most electrolarynxes, mechanical vibrations are produced by a linear electromechanical actuator, the armature of which percusses against a metal or plastic plate at a frequency within the range of glottal excitation. In this paper, the intelligibility of speech produced using a novel hands-free actuator is compared to speech produced using a conventional electrolarynx. Two able-bodied speakers (one male, one female) performed a closed response test containing 28 monosyllabic words, once using a conventional electrolarynx and a second time using the novel design. The resulting audio recordings …

Augmented Control Of A Hands-Free Electrolarynx, Brian Madden, James Condron, Eugene Coyle

Conference Papers

During voiced speech, the larynx acts as the sound source, providing a quasi-periodic excitation of the vocal tract. Following a total laryngectomy, some people speak using an electrolarynx which employs an electromechanical actuator to perform the excitatory function of the absent larynx. Drawbacks of conventional electrolarynx designs include the monotonic sound emitted, the need for a free-hand to operate the device, and the difficulty experienced by many laryngectomees in adapting to its use. One improvement to the electrolarynx, which clinicians and users frequently suggest, is the provision of a convenient hands-free control facility. This would allow more natural use of …

Spatio-Temporal Cardiac Pacing Sites Localization And Time Varying Pericardium Potential Maps Projection Using Ecg Precordial Leads And A Single Moving Dipole Model, Jaime R. De La Cruz

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

A novel non-invasive method for the spatiotemporal localization of the sites of strongest cardiac activity, and for the creation of time varying Pericardium Potential Maps (PPM), with the use of patients' ECG precordial leads, is proposed in this Thesis study. Compared to previous studies, which analyze electrocardiograms in either time domain or spatial domain, the proposed method has the advantage of a simultaneous spatiotemporal electrocardiograph analysis and a 3-D visualization of pericardium potentials maps, as well as, the pericardium surface polarization patterns during the cardiac cycle. The spatial properties added to the electrocardiogram allow for the analysis of specific regions …

On Improving Electrooculogram-Based Computer Mouse Systems: The Accelerometer Trigger, Johnalan Keegan, Edward Burke, James Condron, Eugene Coyle

Conference Papers

Eye tracking is a well-established method of computer control for profoundly paralysed people (Anson et al., 2002). Cameras are commonly used to track eye movements (Morimoto et al., 2005) but one alternative is the bioelectrical signal known as the electrooculogram (EOG). There are some EOG mouse control systems that facilitate the use of GUI applications, but certain actions, which are straightforward using a conventional mouse, remain impossible. Unless the eyes are tracking a target, they move in saccades (jumps), making it impossible to voluntarily trace out smooth trajectories with one's gaze, as would be required to draw a smooth curve. …

Psychophysical Similarity Based Feature Selection For Nodule Retrieval In Ct, Ravi K. Samala

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The emerging paradigms in cancer research indicate the need for a multi-perspective and multi-modal screening approach for early lung cancer diagnosis to increase the probability of clinical resection. Currently no standalone screening methodology is proved to suffice for a clinical diagnosis. Computed tomography has been proved to present abnormality at an early stage with less impact on survival rate in population studies. Nevertheless, because of its non-invasive characteristic, it can be used for diagnosis, prognosis and visualization of tumor. Studies have shown that Computer aided diagnosis (CAD) as a second reader can perform in a similar capacity as a radiologist. …

An Investigation Into The Effect Of Blood Glucose Level Changes On Lf/Hf Parameter Of Hrv Signal In Non-Diabetic And Diabetic Individuals, Reza M. Amanipour

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The analysis of time duration between consecutive R waves of electrocardiogram (ECG) is a standard method to evaluate the variations in heart rate. The physiological literature reveals that blood glucose levels modulate the autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity and heart rate variability (HRV) is representative of the cardiovascular autonomic function. In the research, an investigation was carried out to investigate the relationship between HRV signal measures derived from ECG and arterial blood glucose changes in five non-diabetic and five diabetic individuals during normoglycemic and mildly hyperglycemic conditions. A CleveLabs BioCapture wireless device was used to acquire ECG signals from ten …

Intelligibility Of Electrolarynx Speech Using A Novel Actuator, Brian Madden, Mark Nolan, Ted Burke, James Condron, Eugene Coyle

Conference Papers

During voiced speech, the larynx provides quasi-periodic acoustic excitation of the vocal tract. Following a laryngectomy, some people speak using an electrolarynx which replaces the excitatory function of the absent larynx. Drawbacks of conventional electrolarynx designs include the buzzing monotonic sound emitted, the need for a free hand to operate the device, and difficulty experienced by many laryngectomees in adapting to its use. Despite these shortcomings, it remains the preferred method of speech rehabilitation for a substantial minority of laryngectomees. In most electrolarynxes, mechanical vibrations are produced by a linear electromechanical actuator, the armature of which percusses against a metal …

Categorization Of Functional Impairments In Human Locomotion Using The Methods Of The Fusion Of Multiple Sensors And Computational Intelligence, Huiying Yu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The main aim of this dissertation work was to develop an intelligent system to monitor, quantify and differentiate variances in human gait with high reliability and efficiency using the fusion of multiple sensor data and the methods of fuzzy inferential logic.

Gait disorders are heterogeneous and produce disabilities that vary substantially from individual to individual. The recognition, quantification and analysis of gait dysfunction is complex and, requires the integration of large amounts of data across multiple domains (kinetic, kinematic and electromyographic). Current systems for gait analysis generally require space and complex imaging equipment, as well as prolonged processing time, rendering …

Computer-Aided Detection Of Sleep Apnea And Sleep Stage Classification Using Hrv And Eeg Signals, Edson F. Estrada

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Sleep is a circadian rhythm essential for human life. Many events occur in the body during this state. In the past, significant efforts have been made to provide clinicians with reliable and less intrusive tools to automatically classify the sleep stages and detect apnea events. A few systems are available in the market to accomplish this task. However, sleep specialists may not have full confidence and trust in such systems due to issues related to their accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. The main objective of this work is to explore possible relationships among sleep stages and apneic events and improve on …

Low Voltage, Low Power, Bulk-Driven Amplifier, Shama Huda

Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The importance of low voltage and low powered electronics is increasing with advances in medical electronics. This branch of electronics specifically requires low voltage and low power to make efficient innovative medical equipment. Low power electronics are also desirable because it conserves energy and power. This paper proposes a design of a differential in - differential our amplifier that uses a bulk-driven differential pair for the input pair. In addition, it also used bulk-driven current mirrors for the tail current sink and the active loads. The bulkdriven technique helps to achieve the low voltage design. 90nm CMOS technology was considered …

Application Of Sensor Fusion To Human Locomotor System, John Kweku Avor

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This research study proposes a multi-sensor data fusion technique to determine the complex interactions between the sensory, muscular and mechanical components of the human locomotor systems (neuromechanics). The object in this work is to demonstrate the viability in using inertial sensors for accurate gait phase determination and to present the acceleration effect specific body segment contributes in order to establish a functional gait. The current method used in determining gait phases consist of combining ground reaction force and angular data, this method is time consuming and cannot be totally reliable. We found out that gait phases can be determined distinctively …

Fetal Heart Rate Detection With A Passive Acoustic Sensor System, Zongyao Zhou

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Research and development is presented of real time signal processing methodologies for the detection of fetal heart tones from noise contaminated signals obtained from passive acoustic sensors. A nonlinear Teager energy operator is utilized for detection of the fetal heart tone event. Autocorrelation and a parallel redundancy correction algorithm derives fetal heart rates. A real time monitoring system is described which records and plots the time history of both the fetal heart rate and the acoustic fetal heart signal. The system is validated in the context of the fetal nonstress test. Comparisons are made with ultrasonic nonstress tests on a …